Tag Archives: America

It’s hard to know what to write about Christopher Shinn’s much awaited new play Against at the Almeida. Set partly in a Rocket Factory in Silicone valley, which is really us of course, with a barely veiled reference to the Mars-wards-looking US tycoon Elon Musk, and with a cast worthy of the paparazzi waiting at the door afterwards, the presence in the audience of Mark Rylance too, it oddly failed to blast off. It is good, and the cast at times great, but….

Starring the excellent and highly sensitive Ben Wishaw as the searching billionaire Luke, given a message from God to ‘Go where there’s violence’, it then has him descending like the Secret Millionaire to explore themes of suicide, isolation, addiction, love, sex and above all American violence, in settings from prisons to the home, as his own inability to build relationships is reflected in his fragile love affair with the excellent Amanda Hale. Considering the play begins with a police crime-scene cordon, removed to reveal a TV set broadcasting the increasing horrors of the World and a Colombine-style school shooting, you might guess where this is all leading.

Nowhere really. It almost takes off in the second half, and we should have come in with the conversation between Luke and a brilliant black junky whose solution is indeed Mars, and the play’s strength is its attack on stereotypes. But since it is actually rather an intellectual play, it tries to do too much and gets a bit lost. Or perhaps it’s telos is we really are all lost, but, if human nature is anything to go by, would be no different on Mars anyhow.

In that it has great points to make about turning back to look inside at our own natures, our most basic humanity , or lack of it, the empty cults of celebrity and billionaires like Musk too, and is surprising in its attack on supposedly progressive Liberal thinking, especially at the Almeida. As Emma D’Arcy’s sensitive literature student trying to write a story about her lack of love and connection in her polyamorous relationship is persuaded, or half intimidated, by her supposedly Liberal, gay ex-sex worker professor, played superbly by Kevin Harvey , that she must change the story to really open her mind. She should have given him Atomised to read. In a play so much about a search for human intimacy, it highlights how impossible it becomes when even the violent denouement is live-streamed.

In defiance of that is the reappearing bed that urges the central characters both toward loving sex and commitment, a meaning and intimacy everyone is looking for, paralleled by the pair at the bottom of the pile, faced with sexual exploitation, sort of, and working in the food processing department of the much reviled Equator enterprises, in the play’s desire to circle the Globe and all human experience. It doesn’t make it, obviously, but it has moments of high tenderness, some lovely acting, wit and style. The problem with the Capitalist machine is sounded, and perhaps Silicone Valley and Ayn Rand are to blame for a great deal, but is that really what Against is against, or should we all be getting up against one another even more? Not with tales of child rapes relayed in one of Luke’s encounters, or perhaps our increasing awareness as a species that helps to paralyse Luke in the first place. The doubling of characters played by the same actors, like the angry, exploited, exploiting ex sex-worker professor and Equator’s CEO, to place us all in the same system, is a good touch.

This philosophical ramble has some good and convincing scenes, but in throwing in stuff about the repetitive patterns of news, the violence thrown at us all the time, the dislocations of the internet and, in a world where money is King, the search for hope from the captains of industry, who have no more idea than the rest of us, you want to come up against some sturdier and more focused social and political arguments. Just as the new religious injunction to Luke to ‘Come’ is no pun to hinge a play around, not least because it only works in the English language. But then again, perhaps a playwright’s job is simply to reflect the zeitgeist of his times, and in being lost, it does that. On the whole, although I commend the cast, Ian Rickson’s directing, and several scenes of high drama, as a play I’m neither for nor against.

David Clement-Davies saw against courtesy of the Almeida. Against runs until September 30th. For ticketsClick Here

PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Policy
Protecting your personal details on our website
Last updated: 14 December 2010
PhoenixArkPress (Registered number 7460068), whose registered office is at The Forge, Tichborne, Hampshire SO24 0NA, knows that you care how information about you is used and shared and we appreciate your trust in us to do that carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy and forms part of our website terms and conditions ("Website Terms").
By accepting our Website Terms or by visiting phoenixarkpress.com ("the Website") you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
The Website is brought to you by PhoenixArkPress. PhoenixArkPress believes it is important to protect your Personal Data (as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998) and we are committed to giving you a personalised service that meets your needs in a way that also protects your privacy. This policy explains how we may collect Personal Data about you. It also explains some of the security measures we take to protect your Personal Data, and tells you certain things we will do and not do. You should read this policy in conjunction with the Website Terms.
When we first obtain Personal Data from you, or when you take a new service or product from us, we will give you the opportunity to tell us if you do or do not want to receive information from us about other services or products (as applicable). You can normally do this by ticking a box on an application form or contract. You may change your mind at any time by emailing us at the address below.
Some of the Personal Data we hold about you may be 'sensitive personal data' within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998, for example, information about your health or ethnic origin.
1. Collecting Information
We may collect Personal Data about you from a number of sources, including the following:
1.1. From you when you agree to take a service or product from us, in which case this may include your contact details, date of birth, how you will pay for the product or service and your bank details.
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1.3. From documents that are available to the public, such as the electoral register.
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2.1. Personal Data about our customers is an important part of our business and we shall only use your Personal Data for the following purposes and shall not keep such Personal Data longer than is necessary to fulfil these purposes:

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2.1.8. We may check your details with fraud prevention agencies. If you provide false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this.
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2.3. We may allow other people and organisations to use Personal Data we hold about you in the following circumstances:
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2.5. In connection with any transaction which we enter into with you:
2.5.1. We, and other companies in our group, may carry out credit and fraud prevention checks with one or more licensed credit reference and fraud prevention agencies. We and they may keep a record of the search. Information held about you by these agencies may be linked to records relating to other people living at the same address with whom you are financially linked. These records will also be taken into account in credit and fraud prevention checks. Information from your application and payment details of your account will be recorded with one or more of these agencies and may be shared with other organisations to help make credit and insurance decisions about you and members of your household with whom you are financially linked and for debt collection and fraud prevention. This includes those who have moved house and who have missed payments.
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3.3. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personally identifiable customer information. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose personal information to you.
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4.1. If you communicate with us using the Internet, we may occasionally email you about our services and products. When you first give us Personal Data through the Website, we will normally give you the opportunity to say whether you would prefer us not to contact you by email. You can also always send us an email (at the address set out below) at any time if you change your mind.
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7.1. If you would like any more information or you have any comments about our Privacy Policy, please either write to us at Data Protection Manager, PhoenixArkPress, The Forge, c/o The White Cottage, Tichborne, Hampshire S)24 0NA, or email us at dclementdavies@aol.com.
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7.4. If you would like access to the Personal Data that we hold about you, you can do this by emailing us at dclementdavies@aol.com or writing to us at the address noted above. There may be a nominal charge of £10 to cover administrative costs.
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